Movies: 'Salt' Review
Movie:
Salt
Genre:
Action, Mystery, Thriller
The Verdict:
Exciting, thrilling, peppered schizo action!
Rating: 3 Stars
STARRING:
Angelina Jolie
Liev Schreiber
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Daniel Olbrychski
In this movie Angelina Jolie plays CIA agent Evelyn Salt. (You understand why I was questioning its cheese-factor before viewing thanks to said characters' silly surname and movie title!) Anyway, Salt is accused of being a Russian spy by a Russian defector (I know!) while he's under her questioning in front of her CIA colleagues. He claims she's a deep cover operative working a rogue Russian spy unit, dedicated to the eventual destruction of the United States. This is more than the gist. This is the whole story.
I have to say, surprisingly, this is a very entertaining movie if you like wall-to-wall action. Why do I get the impression this is Hollywood's female answer to the spy thrilling Bourne action series? If so, it's not a bad idea. Bear in mind that I don't think Angelina Jolie was off the screen in its 95-minute runtime.. Jolie's also lucky to have a more than capable action director, Philip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and present Danger) at the helm this time, and as a pure action film - Salt more or less works in my opinion.
It must be said - Salt is a VERY action heavy film. After the first ten
minutes or so, the film is pretty much wall-to-wall chases, gunfights,
and explosions. While the movie sets are not particularly exceptional (save for the
nifty way she dispatches one of the main baddies toward the end - that was unexpectedly brilliant!), they
still deliver, particularly during a nifty foot-chase early in the film.
Towards the end, the action gets more over the top, with her transforming into a pure killing machine once she dyes her hair from approachable blonde, to "don't feck with me" black. Yes Angelina, blonde just does nothing for your complexion or energy. In fact, the only problematic point with Evelyn Salt for me is the schizophrenic nature of her character.
For a good chunk of the movie we're supposed to be unsure about whether or not Salt's one of the good guys (or girls). To pull this off, they have her abruptly transform herself from a mild-mannered CIA case officer (thatch-wigged blonde) to a bad-ass super spy (raven-haired siren!) - but in doing this, they strip her of all emotion, and make her a cold-blooded killing machine that's about as personable as a video game character. At least Jolie can identify with this having had Tomb Raider under her belt!
While Mrs Pitt delivers in the action scenes, it's impossible to identify with
her after the first half hour. I think they were going for an air of mystery, however, it was difficult to then decide which side her bread was buttered on, what she was going to do and where her character was going. Despite the fact that yes, I've decided this is definitely an attempt to cash in on the Bourne series, the film-makers seem to forget that what made Jason Bourne (played by Matt Damon) so cool, was that he was essentially a good hearted guy that just wanted to be left alone. Here, Salt seems to have a borderline personality disorder! That said, Jolie acquits herself nicely throughout, even in the hand-to-hand fight scenes - despite the fact that she looks a little thin at times, and would have been a tad more convincing had she put on a few pounds for the role.
Other than that, I absolutely enjoyed this fast-paced, action-packed barrage of knuckle-dusting entertainment. What can I say, sometimes Saturday night's all right for fighting!
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